Written to inspire all the newbies like me who just enjoy their rifles but just want to do something to get a little more satisfaction out of it!

With alot of research and help from a few members of this forum, I embarked on this project...

I wanted to re-shape and re-finish my new CZ 308 American sub-MOA hunting rifle...

With a few rasps and files in hand I cautiously removed the large cheek-weld piece from the butt-stock...



Then, continued on down removing alot of material behind the pistol-grip and down through the toe-line....and delicately removing wood around the comb and flutes to soften out the harden lines....




I wanted to reduce the weight of the stock yet I still wanted to keep everything straight and solid...

I was surprised by the amount of material I was able to remove with a large rasp and file...

Surprised 'cause I had never used one before...

It was important for me to keep the primary lines of the stock intact yet be able to accent and relieve certain areas for aesthetic-appeal and handle-ability...



I chose to re-work the pistol-grip for feel and comfort, removing all unwanted bulk...

I relieved the stock a bit above the trigger guard area and swept it back in a curve to compliment the lines of the pistol-grip and trigger guard profile...It doesn't show up well in this photo as I am angled ahead of the trigger guard in this shot...I measured and cut out a template of stiff-weighted paper and transferred the pattern with a pencil lightly to the other-side of the stock...I wanted everything to be even and identical, this was most important to me...



Next I transferred that same template to the front of the stock just ahead on the magazine/floorplate and used the same outline but reduced the length of the template to match the same lines for the front of the mag towards the fore-end...It was my intention to keep all my reliefs soft and subtle and work with the hard lines of the stock for balance while re-shaping it...



Once I had that all relieved and matched I followed that same line and contour to the front of where I measured my hand would grip the forend...





That gave me a real nice feel...Once I was satisfied with that I evenly blended that profile to the forend tip that I had just re-shaped and rounded over a tad...



Next, I relieved the top of the stock very softly in front of the chamber area. I held that file at the same angle/degree all the way to the forend tip...





Then I block-sanded the receiver area on both sides of the stock to remove again more wood but it was also my intention to keep the integrity of the wood in this area intact in regards to strength...Here I carefully removed wood til I was satisfied...

And the last thing I did was to relieve the area of the stock where the reciever ejects the spent cartridges...





Please forgive me as I might not have the best understanding of the terms of the stock for ID purposes but I hope you can understand me well enough to get an idea of the area being described...

I kept all my corners square and my lines true by using a piece of wood as a backer-block for sanding through the entire process...

I used the common sandpaper grits all the way to 400 grit...

I put on 14 total coats of TRU-OIL diluted with Mineral Spirits and used 0000# steel wool to knock it down every couple of coats there after...

I would say it took me 4 coats to completely fill the pores of the wood...

After my last coat of the hand-rubbed oil I had let it dry for about a week.

Then I lightly buffed the finish with the 0000# steel wool to obtain a satin finish that I was satisfied with...I rubbed on a couple coats of Johnson Paste Wax and considered myself done...

I learned alot about myself doing this rifle...
Good things take time...Alot of time...The process was slow and methodical...And at times especially waiting for the TRU-OIL to dry thoroughly in my humid tropical climate of Hawaii, I often saw my impatience in the quest of perfection....

I learned the two don't go together...

Even though I have alot to learn I will say I did the BEST I could do on this piece and I learned alot about my character that needs some adjusting....PATIENCE....

I finally sanded and shaped my Pachmayer Field Re-Coil Pad with a Miles Installation jig...It worked really well but I could use a bit more practice...

I installed my new set of Talleys and I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at all of this...

The finished product came out exactly as I had envisioned, it balances perfectly and feels real good in the hands...

Now to the range to see if its still a sub-MOA rifle?????

Thank you to Marc_Stokeld, Weagle, 7x57Mauser, and M1Tanker... your friendly and patient and helpful correspondence has made me one super happy appreciative guy!

Aloha to all...

A small-town boy's new PRIDE and JOY thanks to you all...Thank you very much!!!

thats a nice piece of wood.
are you planing on putting checkering on the stock?
you are inspiring me to try some wood i have lieing around here.
greg

Late Bloomer,

Great job!!
You have a very beautiful rifle now.
You missed your calling. You should have been a stockmaker...
That stock sure has nice figure in it too.
The lines of that stock are excellent.

Thanks for the posting.

Don

quote:

I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at all of this...

That's a great job for your first time. I can assure you that it's far better than my first attempt at stock reworking!

However it's unfinished......you did such nice work that it deserves checkering (Soverns comes to mind) and I'd suggest some type of pistol grip cap as well.

Again.....very well done....the light reflection of the stock is straight and the wood pores are filled and it just looks good to me.....it's ready to go hunting....(after some checkering)!

Looks great. I've redone several Brno ZKKs the same way. Lots of potential inside those ugly factory stocks. Only things I would add would be ebony forend tip and steel grip cap.

Now why couldnt the factory had done that! LOL Nice work and your first go around. One thing that working on rifles teaches you is what you described... patience...and it shows in your work!

quote:

srtrax: Now why couldnt the factory had done that!

I've always wondered this myself. True for most factory stocks.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
[QUOTE]

However it's unfinished......you did such nice work that it deserves checkering (Soverns comes to mind) and I'd suggest some type of pistol grip cap as well.

Yep, I want to do something really rustic and less refined, like an 18 pt. simple basic checkering pattern that is stained med/dark?

And an all-in-white polished grip cap or something to compliment the bolt for aesthetic balance?

Maybe instead of the all-in-white grip cap, I'll just have the bolt handle highly-polished for that all-in-white look?

I got more ideas than I have money....I am trying to be thrifty as possible without being cheap...

Any ideas?

This small-town boy is financially-strapped right now...I will re-checker and put on a grip cap once I save up enough $$$'s to get her done right...with Soverns or Ahlmans...or anyone else who can do me right...

Nice job. It's a LOT easier to install the grip cap first and then work to it. I would probably just checker it and be happy with it.

Roland: All I can say is Wow! You sir have done a masterful job on that rifle. I am curious as to how much weight reduction took place? What is the overall weight of your rifle now? All I did is refinish my stock, but you, my friend, took it to a whole new level. You must be very proud of the job you did. How much woodworking experience did you have before starting this project? Thank you for the kind words Roland. Hope you have a nice day my friend. Tom Purdom

quote:

Originally posted by dempsey:
Nice job. It's a LOT easier to install the grip cap first and then work to it. I would probably just checker it and be happy with it.

+1....That's what I was thinking about just now...

Maybe I'll polish the bolt handle, re-checker, and take her on the road!

quote:

Originally posted by dempsey:
Nice job. It's a LOT easier to install the grip cap first and then work to it. I would probably just checker it and be happy with it.

x2

quote:

Originally posted by 7x57mm:
Roland: All I can say is Wow! You sir have done a masterful job on that rifle. I am curious as to how much weight reduction took place? What is the overall weight of your rifle now? All I did is refinish my stock, but you, my friend, took it to a whole new level. You must be very proud of the job you did. How much woodworking experience did you have before starting this project? Thank you for the kind words Roland. Hope you have a nice day my friend. Tom Purdom

Thank you Tom!

I didn't weigh the rifle...All I know is that I took off a considerable amount of wood...I could have worked it down much further easily, but I wanted to retain some of its weight for ease of shooting...

Weight distribution was a major determining factor of what would stay and what would go...It was important for me to keep the rifles balance for off-hand shooting for example...

Also, I'm just a backyard carpenter who has nailed together a dog house or two...

I would say my greatest asset to this project was being able to acquire a VISION of the finished product long before I tore into it...
It was one of Marc-Stokeld's greatest advice to an impatient guy like me!

The feel of the rifle is no where close to what it was from the factory, it just feels darn good in the hand for shooting comfort...Every day I worked on it was worth it now that I've put it together and have shouldered it a whole bunch of times!

CZ stocks need a serious diet!! if they put some nice shape to them and finished them with something other than monkey snot it it would be a great improvement

Late-Bloomer

Now that is the way a stock should look, too bad CZ doesn't do them that way from the factory.
I spent 10 years altogether there in HI, the first 2 times were on Wheeler and the last time on Hickam. We left in Sept 06.
Hey, what did they ever do about that overpass that got hit by a big truck? Exactly which overpass was it?

Steve E.....

quote:

Originally posted by Steve E.:
Late-Bloomer

Now that is the way a stock should look, too bad CZ doesn't do them that way from the factory.
I spent 10 years altogether there in HI, the first 2 times were on Wheeler and the last time on Hickam. We left in Sept 06.
Hey, what did they ever do about that overpass that got hit by a big truck? Exactly which overpass was it?

Steve E.....

Steve,

I live of the east side of the island and that happened down the Aiea side...I believe it was a Military tractor-trailor or contractor that slammed into the Kaonohi Street overpass...Its all good to go now...Aloha...

quote:

Originally posted by Late-Bloomer:
I would say my greatest asset to this project was being able to acquire a VISION of the finished product long before I tore into it...
It was one of Marc-Stokeld's greatest advice to an impatient guy like me!

That's huge!!!!!

Don

Very Nice! What do you guy's use for camo over there? A flower print tourist shirt

I hope you don't mind if I borrow it this year.

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
Very Nice! What do you guy's use for camo over there? A flower print tourist shirt

I hope you don't mind if I borrow it this year.

Terry

No a tourist one is way too loud for us guys down here it hurts our eyes....